Quick Links

Marquam Hill Lectures

Since 1981, the Marquam Hill Lecture Series has brought together leading members of the OHSU faculty with the public for free lectures which feature innovative and cutting edge biomedical research and clinical advances that will form the basis of tomorrow's cures and treatments.

The Marquam Hill Lecture Series is one of the most popular and long-standing lecture series about science by scientists in Oregon. The series honors the memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Gray, co-founder of the Marquam Hill Steering Committee, a group of women community leaders who advocate for the public missions of OHSU throughout the state. In addition to oversight of the Marquam Hill Lectures, the Committee selects and maintains the extensive collection of art in OHSU buildings, and curated Art on the Hill, a book of works from the OHSU collection. The Committee meets regularly with key faculty research leaders, innovators and OHSU leadership to identify engaging speakers for the public lecture series.

Are you on the Marquam Hill Lectures email list? If not, please contact us to sign up. Don't forget to view past lectures by watching the videos below.

2014-15 Lecture series

Secrets of the Developing Brain

Presented by Bonnie Nagel, Ph.D.

Bonnie Nagel, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience in the OHSU School of Medicine, is an expert on adolescent neurodevelopment. Dr. Nagel and colleagues have been studying brain development in healthy and at-risk youth for years. Their work reveals secrets of the developing brain, including developmental differences between the sexes, and how experiences (both positive and negative) impact the brain.

This lecture helped parents, friends and teenagers themselves get a better understanding of what makes adolescence such a unique and vulnerable time.

Beating Cancer with Exercise

Presented by Kerri Winters-Stone, Ph.D., FACSM

Exercise is known to prevent and help manage chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease. Can exercise also help cancer survivors live longer and better? This question is at the heart of a compelling body of research led by Kerri Winters-Stone, Ph.D., research professor in the OHSU School of Nursing.

Dr. Winters-Stone and colleagues want to know more about the healing power of exercise. Can it slow cancer progression? Can exercise help both patients and family members affected by cancer? Early results have revealed unexpected benefits for patients who exercise with their spouse.

Ending an Epidemic: OHSU's Hunt for an HIV Vaccine

Presented by Louis Picker, M.D.

When Louis Picker, M.D., and his colleagues described in 2013 how their HIV vaccine candidate worked, the world took notice. Dr. Picker, associate director of the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, developed a vaccine that prevents a virus similar to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

For the more than 35 million people around the globe living with HIV, this research may signal the end to a decades-long battle to end the disease. With new support, including a $25 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Picker is moving forward to test the safety of a human version of the vaccine that may someday prevent or cure HIV infection. Attendees learned first-hand how OHSU research could transform the way physicians, researchers and public health advocates fight against HIV.

The Magic of Microbubbles

Presented by Sanjiv Kaul, M.D.

One in every four deaths in the United States is caused by heart disease. Coronary heart disease – the most common type – accounts for 380,000 deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sanjiv Kaul, M.D., Ernest C. Swigert chair of cardiology and professor of medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine, pioneered a powerfully effective screening test for the early detection of coronary heart disease. Used more than five million times in patients around the world, myocardial contrast echocardiography combines microbubbles and ultrasound technology to create images of the heart. Dr. Kaul, who is also co-director of the OHSU Knight Cardiovascular Institute, talked about how these tiny bubbles will someday help detect and treat other ailments, including cancer.

Declaring War on Melanoma

Presented by Sancy Leachman, M.D., Ph.D.

Watch out, melanoma. We're teaming up to get you. Those words capture the sentiment of OHSU's aggressive campaign to prevent, detect and treat melanoma. Sancy Leachman, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of dermatology in the OHSU School of Medicine, is a world-renowned melanoma researcher who is determined to find answers and reduce deaths caused by melanoma.

Oregon consistently has one of the highest rates of melanoma incidence and death in the nation, particularly for women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Why is melanoma so common in a state that is known more for rain than sunshine? A team of researchers at OHSU, in collaboration with patients, their family and friends, have created the Melanoma Community Registry – a first step in the "war" to make melanoma the victim. Attendees gained practical information about melanoma learned about what's on the horizon for this type of cancer.